CHRIS Burton had the chance to meet the people who worked to save his life after he had a heart attack.
The 50-year-old was working on a new estate in Coalway on January 18 when he collapsed.
A colleague rushed to the home of Tiffany Prosser in Poppy Field and she raised the alarm.
The first person to get to the van where Chris was unconscious was decorator Paul Stevens who gave life-saving CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) for 15 minutes as paramedics carried out more advanced life support.
Paramedic Paul Nicholls, who is based at the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust’s Coleford station, had to use his local knowledge to quickly get to the scene – the estate is so new it didn’t appear on the ambulance’s sat nav.
Mr Stevens, a Two Rivers tenant on the estate, said: “I could feel the patient’s ribs cracking and I checked with the paramedic that I was doing it right.
“He said I was so I carried on – I just kept thinking how he had a son and, as a father myself, I had to keep going for his sake.
“After about 15 minutes and the use of a defibrillator, he got his heartbeat back and was taken to hospital.”
Mr Nicholls, who has been a paramedic for 13 years, said Mr Stevens was ‘instrumental’ in saving Mr Burton’s life.
“For someone who had never been in this situation before, Paul dealt with it extremely well and did an excellent job of taking over the chest compressions from me, meaning I could carry out more advanced life support.”
Mr Burton was taken to hospital in Bristol where he spent a week in an induced coma.
Ironically, when he got home to Lydbrook there was a letter waiting for him telling him he had passed a course on CPR and the use of a defibrillator.
He said: “I’m delighted to be able to meet the people who saved my life.
“I don’t remember anything of what happened on that day but I’m starting to piece together things from what I’ve been told.
“The people who helped to save my life should be recognised for what they did.”
Mr Stevens is being nominated for a national award by Two Rivers Housing.
The housing association’s health and safety co-ordinator, Andrew Tootell, said: “This was a great response from one of our tenants and he should be very proud of his actions.
Kevin Dickens, the ambulance service’s com-
munity responder officer in Gloucestershire said: “Early intervention is vital for a patients survival when they are in cardiac arrest, so it’s really important people understand how they help by learning how to deliver basic life support.
“Our nationally acclaimed programme of installing defibrillators in communities across Gloucestershire will play a valuable role in saving more lives so that people like Paul can deliver potentially life-saving treatment in those critical first few minutes before an ambulance arrives.”
Chris was taken ill near Wynols Close, one of 11 locations where Two Rivers installed defibrillators for use by the whole community.